North Wales man Eifion Roberts is shock pick in Welsh rugby squad

Oct 21 2008 By Paul Scott

FORMER Ruthin prop Eifion Roberts is the shock call-up in Warren Gatland's Wales squad for the Autumn internationals.

If he features, the 21-stone Sale Sharks forward will be the first North Walian to pull on the Welsh senior jersey since present international forwards coach Robin McBryde who retired in 2005.

Gatland has named a 32-man squad to prepare for matches against South Africa, Canada, New Zealand and Australia at the Millennium Stadium in the 2008 Invesco Perpetual Series next month.

St Asaph-reared Roberts is one of five uncapped players called up alongside back row forward Andy Powell, fly half Dan Biggar, wing Leigh Halfpenny and scrum half Martin Roberts.

Head coach Gatland said: "Eifion Roberts has been on the radar and he now gets his chance to sample life at international level."

He added: "This squad is larger than I would normally select and we may reduce it after we get the first two games under our belts but the current size reflects the fact that we could be asking some players to turn out three times in the space of 13 days.

"The Ospreys players, for example, are currently due to play for their region on the Sunday before the South Africa game and with the Canada match coming only six days later we will need to use our squad correctly.

"But we have an exciting month of rugby ahead of us. The Welsh Rugby Union worked hard to ensure we have the three top Southern Hemisphere teams coming to Cardiff.

"These sides have consistently been the top three in world rugby for many years and we will be relishing the opportunity to play each of them.

"We have made no secret of our ambition to climb the world rankings and it is only by meeting these sides regularly and ensuring that we are able to compete that we stand a chance of achieving our aims."

Wales squad:

BACKS: Gareth Cooper, Dwayne Peel, Martin Roberts, Stephen Jones, James Hook, Daniel Biggar, Jamie Roberts, Andrew Bishop, Tom Shanklin, Gavin Henson, Shane Williams, Mark Jones, Leigh Halfpenny, Lee Byrne, Morgan Stoddart.

FORWARDS: Gethin Jenkins, Duncan Jones, Huw Bennett, Matthew Rees, Richard Hibbard, Adam Jones, Eifion Roberts, Rhys Thomas, Alun-Wyn Jones, Ian Gough, Ian Evans, Luke Charteris, Dafydd Jones, Andy Powell, Martyn Williams, Robin Sowden-Taylor, Ryan Jones (Captain).